News and Updates

December 27, 2024

End of Year Giving

This November, we celebrated 15 years of Haywood Street Congregation. Our hope is to be a place where people who may not feel welcome anywhere else can come and be reminded that they matter — that, in fact, they are needed. This vision of community is what differentiates Haywood Street from social service programs where there is one person in need and another providing aid. Our core belief is that we all need each other.

Our mission: Relationship, above all else.

We depend on the generosity of individual donors, fellow churches, corporate partners, and charitable foundations. Using the link below, please consider making a gift now to support our work in 2025.

New Year's Day Lunch

Here at Haywood Street, we have a longstanding tradition of serving lunch every Wednesday, rain or shine, including holidays. This year, New Year's Day falls on a Wednesday. Please, come enjoy a home-cooked meal and worship with us this Holiday season on New Year's Day. We will operate our normal hours, serving meals by reservation ticket from 10 am to 12:30 pm.

Companion Orientation Monday January 6th at 5:00

The next companion orientation will be Monday January 6th at 5:00. We'll meet in the sanctuary. Please invite your friends and family to join if they are interested in becoming a companion!

Haywood Street Highlights

Merry Christmas from Haywood Street! We'll see you next Wednesday in the new year!

Weekly Ministry Opportunities:

Tuesday Haywood Street Holy Ground Keepers: 9:00 a.m. in the parking lot, weather permitting. Walk the grounds of the church campus and our local neighborhood, cleaning up along the way.

Tuesday Prayer Group: 12:30 p.m. in Room 6. Gather for a time of communal prayer.

Wednesday Downtown Welcome Table: Join us for lunch between 10:00-1:00 or help with kitchen and dining room clean-up from 1:00-3:00. Sign up here!

Art Ministry: Join us in the art room on Wednesdays (except on the Foot Clinic days) from 10:30 to 1:00 to make art in community!

Story Circle: For a time of listening, sharing, and being heard, come to Room 1 on Wednesdays between 8:30-10:00 a.m.!

Wednesday Worship: 12:30 p.m. in the sanctuary.

Thursday Card Making:

10:00 am in the Respite Kitchen with Brother John.

Weekly Sermons

Read the weekly sermons on our website here.

~Preaching Schedule~

January 1st:

Pastor Seth

January 8th:

Pastor Jody

January 22nd:

Pastor Seth

January 29th:

Pastor Jody

Fresco Viewing Hours:

Monday - Thursday, 10 am - 2 pm (with the exception of during our worship service, which is 12:30 pm every Wednesday).

Contact April if you would like to make an appointment to see the Fresco outside of those hours.

Reflection

Christmas Hope

By April N., Fresco Host and Admin Support

Christmas fell on a Wednesday this year, so it was wonderfully business as usual at Haywood Street. My task for the most part was to keep the coffee brewed in the sanctuary for congregants who gathered before or after their reserved dining time for a wonderful Christmas feast. A friend I’ve known for years was there with me in the morning. He sat on the first pew organizing his belongings. Methodically, he began adding things to the space underneath the Christmas tree, beginning with a record store bag tied to the wood railing beside the tree. Then, he added a neatly folded sleeping bag, a toboggan, scarf, ceramic mug with hot chocolate tucked inside. It felt like each time I left the room and returned, something new was added. The final item was, inexplicably, a baby’s onesie. Looking back at the photo today, it looks like an abstract nativity. Do you see it? He had little to say about it, except that it was his offering.

I hope he has another sleeping bag. I hope a lot of things for him. And yesterday morning he gave me hope. He reminded me this holiday many of us celebrate - Christmas - the birth of Emmanuel - God with us - that Jesus was born in the most humble of circumstances - poor and in need - and still had the most to give.

A witness to include the most excluded, Haywood Street not only welcomes every child of God–especially sisters and brothers of every mental illness and physical disability, addiction and diagnosis, living condition and employment status, gender identity and sexual orientation, class, color, and creed–but we celebrate your presence, certain that the kingdom of God is coming closer because you are here.